Christmas 2023
Dear Friends in Christ,
At the First Reading for Midnight Mass, we hear from the Prophet Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (9:1). With the coming of the Lord among us in the flesh, we have become those people. When I was a college student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I frequently attended the 9:00pm Sunday Mass at the Newman Center Chapel on campus. It was a beautiful Mass for many reasons, but most of all because the whole church was kept dark during the Mass, except for the light on the altar and the small candles burning on each window ledge.
Sometimes our world seems to be in darkness with all the sadness, rage, and irrationality that can seem to surround us. Even our own personal life memories can sometimes bear that same heavy darkness. With Christ’s birth, our world has really been enlightened. Small lights of hope lead us through the shadows and into the bright light of God’s love, given to us especially in the Eucharist.
Some of the small lights that God has used to lead me throughout my life have often been borne by my friends – themselves gifts from God to me. I have often been amazed at how they’ve helped me find my way through the darkest of times. At his birth, Jesus, too, is surrounded by so many unlikely friends: the shepherds, the three kings, the animals, and random passers-by. The miracle of Christmas has to do with God’s radical openness to embracing our human condition in all its smallness.
Thank you very much for your warm welcome to the parish. I look forward to being with you for many years. I’m grateful to Fr. Joseph Tito and Fr. Nick Desmond in these recent years, and I wish them both very happy retirements. On behalf of Fr. Pedro Campos, our deacons, and the entire staff, I wish you and your families a very blessed Christmas.
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus,
Fr Thomas J Byrne